ICAM News

Sleep Study

 

Well here is your library technician (alias roving reporter) bringing you the latest and greatest informative facts to make your day better. I must admit that I am feeling quite a bit more tired than usual since we have turned our clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time.

Why do we participate in daylight saving time anyway? I randomly surveyed 34 patients, visitors, and staff to find out how many people know why we do it. 28 out of the 34 people I surveyed did not know why we do it, including myself.

In October of 2007 the Better Sleep Council Canada surveyed 1,003 Canadians and released a study that showed that one in four Canadians (or 23%) are officially sleep deprived. We all know that sleep deprivation can rob you of physical and mental alertness, not to mention what it can do to our emotions. The study also says that we are a nation of morning people, with nearly 4 in 10 Canadians reporting that they are most energetic between 6 and 9 a.m. After that, most people’s energy levels take a nose-dive, crashing in the late afternoon between 3 and 6 pm.

So what are we doing about our sleep-deprived days? Apparently Canadians are catching some z’s on transit systems like bus, boat, plane, and even parks or stadiums. Ontarians are the mostly likely transit sleepers.

A recent study from the researchers at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has shown that the more sleep that kids get at night, the lower their risk of being overweight or obese, affecting only boys but not girls.

The Sleep/Wake Disorders Canada, The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group’s Sleep Disorder Center, The Canadian Sleep Society, and Sleep Medicine all offer suggestions for anyone having sleep disorders, sleep afflictions, or just the occasional insomnia.

Oh by the way, we have daylight saving time to save electricity. This practice was carried over from World War I and II to save fuel. I thought it would be somewhat consoling to know why we do some of the things we do that causes us to lose sleep. So is it?

 

Val Hadwen
Library Technician

 

References:

JAMC – July 11, 2000 page 76.
www.cbc.ca/health/story/20008
www.newswire.ca
www.bettersleep.ca
www.sleep-deprivation.com